Apparatus for lining journal-boxes



(No Model.)

G. W. TOPHAM.

APPARATUS FOR LINING JOURNAL BOXES.

Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

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UNITED STATES GEORGE \V. TOPHAM, OF BOSTON, llIASSAGHUSE'ITS.

APPARATUS FOR LINING JOURNAL-=BOXES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,933, dated September 4, 1888.

Application filed July 2, 1888. Serial No. 278,800. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, GEORGE \V. TOPHAM, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Lining Journal-Boxes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to apparatus for lining journal-bearings, especially useful for car-axle boxes or other bearings subject to considerable pressure.

Gar-axle boxes have been made with a raised central portion of soft metal, such as lead, which receives the greater part of the pressure when the box is first applied to the journal, and owing to its softness soon fits itself to thejournal, so that the latter runs without binding or heating, although the curvature of the journal may not correspond exactly to the normal curvature of the bearing-surface of the box. Such raised central portion has been made by attaching a thin strip of lead by solder to the inner face of the box; but such method is expensive and objectionable, as the lead is not held with great security and may be stripped off or displaced before or in the act of applying the box to the journal.

The present in venlion consists in appliances hereinafter described and claimed for lining the boxes by first running or casting the lining or anti-friction metal of the box into a recess in the box and then running the lead or soft metal upon the surface of the lining metal, so that the lead unites securely with the lining metal.

The apparatus embodying this invention consists, mainly, of a mandrel of substantially the size and shape of the journal with which the box is to run, the said mandrel being cornbined with a removable piece of the shape desired for the soft-metal portion of the hearing. The body or main portion of the box, having the recess for the anti-friction metal, is fastened against this mandrel, and while the re movable piece is in place on the mandrel the anti-friction metal is run in, thus filling the recess in the box and being molded by the mandrel and removable piece, which is then removed, leaving a recess between the molded face of the anti-friction metal and the surface of the mandrel, into which recess the lead or softer metal is run.

Figures 1 and 2 are longitudinal sectional views illustrating the devices embodying this invention for lining journalboxes, showing also the box in the position occupied while being lined. Figs. 3 and et are transverse sections of the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively; Fig. 5, an end view of the finished box; Fig. 6, an end view of the mandrel, and Fig. 7 an end view of one of the removable pieces that co-operate with the mandrel.

The appliances forming the subject of this invention are shown as employed for making car-axle boxes, which usually consist of a main portion or box, a, (see Fig. 5,) of brass or other comparatively hard composition, having the con cave bearing-face ct provided with a lining, b, of a somewhat softer anti-friction metal or alloy, commonly known as Babbitt metal, which is cast into a recess occupying a greater or less portion of the wearingface of the box, as shown.

The boxes which the appliances forming the subject of this invention are intended to produce also have, in addition to the anti-friction lining, a raised portion, b,of stillso fter metal such as leadat the middle part of the hearing, so that the surface of the hearing will sooner shapeitself to correspond with thejournal to which it is applied. The entire curved surface of the brass part of the box and of the lining material I) and the softer projecting part b constitutes the bearing-surface of the box, it being intended that the curvature of the box proper should be the same as that of the journal; but if the curvature of the journal is slightly greater or less than that of the box, owing to wear or lack of uniformity in con struction, the projecting part b of the box will, owing to its softness, almost immediately fit itself to the curvature of the journal, and thus afford a sufficient bearing until the surface of the box as a whole becomes fitted to the journal by wear.

In order to make bearings of this character of improved quality and at. moderate expense, in accordance with this invention, a mandrel, d, of substantially the size and shape of the journal or shaft with which the bearing is to be used, is employed, the said mandrel being provided with a recess, (1', (see Fig. 6,) which contains a removable piece, (1 (see Figs. 1, 3, and 7,) which may be of the same material as the mandrel, and of such nature that the antifriction metal will not adhere to it. As shown in this instance, the mandrel is properly constructed to co-operate in making two boxes at one time, having two recesses, d, and cooperating removable pieces (1 diametrically opposite one another.

In using the apparatus, two of the boxes (1 are fastened against the sides of the mandrel, as by the clamp e, and the mandrel and boxes are then seated firmly upon a base, f, so that the whole makes a mold, one wall of which consists of the box a, and the other wall of which consists of the mandrel with the piece (1 which is inserted in the recess of the mandrel at the first operation.

The recessed surface of the box should be prepared, as by tinning, to cause the molten lining metal to adhere to it, while the surface of the mandrel and piece (1 are of proper na ture to preventadhesion. \Vhen the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the molten lining metal is run into the recesses in the boxes, to which it adheres, the outer surface of said lining metal away from the box being molded or shaped by the surface of the mandrel and inserted piece d. After the lining metal has solidified, the pieces d are removed, thus leaving recesses between the molded surface of thelining metal and the mandrel, into which recesses the softer metal,usually lead, is run, the same adhering to the surface of the lining metal, and thus making the complete box, in which the soft metal is securely connected with the anti-friction metal;

The slidepieces (2 may be of any shape, their outer surfaces determining the shape of the surface on which the two metals join,while their inner surface, or rather the shape of the mandrel,with said pieces removed,determines the shape of the bearing-surface of the softmetal portion of the finished box. The portion d (see Fig. 6) of the surface of the mandrel included between the radial dotted lines, which portion is adjacent to and partly in contact with the box, as shown in Fig. 4, while the latter is being lined, is of a shape corre sponding to that of the entire bearing-surface a of the finished box, including its raised portion I), as shown in Fig. 5.

The pieces d may be drawn outendwise from the recesses in the mandrel while the boxes are clamped thereto, they having portions that project above the mandrel to facilitate such withdrawal. The boxes, however, might be unclamped from the mandrel after the lining metal had been run in and solidified, and't-he pieces d then removed from the recesses and the partially-lined'boxes again clamped against the mandrel, while the soft metal is cast upon the previously-cast lining metal.

I claim K The herein-described apparatus for lining axle-boxes, consisting of a mandrel against which the box to be lined is fastened, the surface of said mandrel adjacent to the box being shaped to correspond to the bearingsurface of the finished box,combined with the removable piece (i which, together with the mandrel,determines the shape of the lining or antifriction metal of the box, and which is to be removed after the anti-friction metal has been cast into the box to afford a recess for softer metal, which is to be cast into said recess upon the surface of the lining metal, substantially as described.

In testimony whereoflhave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. \V. TOPHAM.

Vitnesses:

Jos. 1?. LIVERMORE, Jas. J. MxLoNaY. 

